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At thirteen years of age, Hinata Shouyou learns about volleyball.
On a cold morning outside a local storefront, he watches the Little Giant fly and he knows he wants to fly, too.
The only problem is, the walls are too narrow, and the ceiling is too low. Yukigaoka doesn't have a boy's volleyball club, and all his new friends want to play baseball or soccer or basketball. So Shouyou finds the stairs to the roof, instead.
He begs his mom to take him to a rec center and gym over the mountain, where maybe, just maybe, there will be some people who don't mind letting a 150 cm first year middle school student tag along during some of their games. And if they won't, he'll show them. He's not tall, but he can jump.
As it turns out, there aren't that many more volleyball fanatics at this gym than there are at his school. More accurately, there's just one.
His name is Kageyama Tobio, and Shouyou thinks he's amazing.
The first thing Shouyou notices is that his head, with his hair laying shiny and flat on it, is almost perfectly round, much like a volleyball—which is fitting, because Kageyama might be one hundred percent made up of love for the sport. He started coming to the gym so that he could play on the days he doesn't have practice to begin with.
Kageyama has big, round, blue eyes, and a slightly blank expression, unless he's talking about volleyball—then his round face lights up like a bulb, shiny and excited. His hair looks like someone took a stencil with the English letter M and stuck it right over the front of his bangs, cutting out two windows for his eyes. Shouyou thinks about this whenever Kageyama talks, and can't stop giggling. People are always telling Shouyou to be more serious, but Kageyama doesn't do that. He looks a little confused as to why Shouyou is laughing, but smiles along just the same.
Kageyama has been playing volleyball since the second grade, and he wants to show Shouyou every single volleyball related thing he has ever learned since he started. This suits Shouyou just fine, because he knows nothing about the sport except that he is in love with it.
Eventually, after Kageyama has demonstrated serves, and tossing, and receives, and then more tosses, and spikes, then even more tossing, and then a bit more tossing just to make sure Shouyou grasped it the fourth time, they decide to try something together. Kageyama wants Shouyou to throw the ball up for him, then he'll toss, and Shouyou will try and spike it over the net. The net is pretty high, and Shouyou is pretty small, but it'll be fun for practice.
Shouyou throws the ball up and gets a good running start. And then, woosh, Kageyama tosses it in the most perfect arc, right as Shouyou jumps—and bwam, does he jump, straight up off the ground and high into the air, so that his eyes are clear over the net. With a smack, he hits the ball that comes right to where he is, sending it slamming down onto the other side of the court.
He falls flat on his butt when he lands. Kageyama comes running over to his side, and his whole round face is a big round O of surprise. Shouyou's echoes it.
"I didn't mean," Kageyama says, sounding out of breath, "to toss it that fast! I didn't think you were going to jump first, so I just—"
"It was perfect!" Shouyou explodes, launching himself at Kageyama, throwing his arms around his neck. Kageyama glows red.
"Really?" he asks.
Overcome with glee and affection, Shouyou smashes his cheek against Kageyama's, and his grin overflows, the happiness sliding over onto Kageyama's face until he's beaming, too.
"Really, really!" Shouyou tells him. "Kageyama, do you wanna be best friends?"
Kageyama looks stunned. "If you want. I've never had a best friend before."
Shouyou cheers, because his new best friend loves his new favorite sport, and today is the best day of his entire young life.
*
First year, they learn as much about each other as they do about how fast Kageyama can toss, how high Shouyou can jump, how hard they can work and play together.
In second year, they learn there's no one else like the other, that calling it a "best friendship" from day one couldn't have been a better decision.
They are inseparable.
Meeting up during the week is hard, because they both have school and the gym isn't that close to where Shouyou lives (he insisted that he go to a gym in the same town where the Little Giant played, and he will not be budged on this subject). But every weekend, Shouyou and Kageyama—Tobio, now—meet up at the gym to practice for hours. Sometimes they stay over at each other's houses on Saturdays. When it's Tobio's house, this just means truly endless volleyball, but when it's Shouyou's they sometimes hang out with Izumi and Kouji.
"—so then the guy on the other team blocked it but our libero saved it! And Tobio tossed it and I was gyuuunnn running as fast as I could and I was already on the other side of the court and they couldn't block me and then byaaa I scored the last point of the game!" Shouyou recounts the thrilling tale over hamburgers and milkshakes.
Izumi claps when he's finished, while Kouji just snorts and shakes his head. Looking for a more enthusiastic audience, Shouyou turns to Tobio, who is always on the quiet side, though especially when around other people. He latches onto the taller boy's arm, clinging hopefully.
"It was awesome, wasn't it, Kage-chan?" he pipes, and Tobio nods, earnestly.
"It was probably the highest anybody's ever jumped," he says, and Shouyou beams. He leans into Tobio's arm, happily.
"I always feel like I can jump way higher," he says. "Whenever you're tossing to me, I mean."
Tobio takes an enormous sip of his milkshake and promptly chokes a little bit. Shouyou laughs, thumping him on the back.
Izumi and Kouji exchange glances, laughing behind their hands.
"What?" Shouyou asks, cocking his head.
"Nothing, nothing," Izumi says delicately, while Kouji says, bluntly, "You two are like a couple."
Shouyou and Tobio exchange blank glances.
"A couple?" Shouyou asks. "A couple of what?"
Kouji laughs so hard his stomach starts to hurt, while Izumi shushes him. Shouyou gets the feeling he and Tobio are being teased. He pouts. Tobio, meanwhile, just stares back and forth between Shouyou and the other two, looking politely confused.
"We are a couple," Shouyou tells him, loudly. Kouji resumes laughing. "A couple of awesome players! And best friends. Right, Tobio?" He's always reminding people that Tobio is his best friend, because he feels so lucky, that he gets to be Tobio's.
Tobio nods. "Shou-kun is my partner," he tells the other two. "He's the only one who can hit my tosses."
"Shou-kun" is the special nickname Tobio uses for whenever he's really happy about a volleyball play, or for when he means something a lot, and Shouyou's stomach goes all fizzy and bubbly and warm. Though this is perhaps also due to the fast food. Doesn't matter, though. Tobio is still the best.
On the way home, though, he has to ask. "Tobio, am I really the only one who can hit your tosses?"
Tobio nods his head. "Yeah."
Shouyou swells with joy and pride, but then catches the look on Tobio's face and it cuts him short. "Hey, why do you look sad? Is that a bad thing?"
"Did you mean it?" Tobio answers his question with a question. "That you feel like you can jump the highest when I toss to you?"
"Yeah, duh!" Shouyou laughs. "Because your tosses are the best!"
Tobio stops walking and turns to look at him. Shouyou turns so he can stare back at him.
"What if some people don't think they are?" Tobio asks.
Shouyou frowns at this. "What? That's dumb."
Tobio looks a little less sad, but he keeps going. "It's just, some people at my school... they don't like the way I toss." He says this like it's a foreign concept, and it is, a little bit, to both of them. Shouyou scrunches up his nose.
"Why?"
"They say it's too... fast!" Tobio says, and he scrubs at his hair in frustration. He doesn't really get angry all that often, but Shouyou knows that all his intensity and focus where volleyball is concerned can get channeled that way, if the fires aren't tended to. "They say I'm reckless, that I don't—care if my teammates can keep up or not. And I do care, it's just that if I have to slow down, then—"
"Then you're just like everybody else." Shouyou finishes the sentence for him. He can feel himself getting upset, too; their moods rise and fall in tandem. Who would try to limit Tobio, all that insane amount of skill he's got? He's not like everybody else. There's nobody like his best friend.
But, he knows from playing with him and others that their quick set is different. Shouyou can hit it just fine but maybe other people just can't. And maybe that's okay.
(And maybe, he likes it that way.)
He grabs at Tobio's hand and pulls him along again, and Tobio follows, quietly, having poured out his frustration already.
"Remember how I used to be really bad at spiking?" Shouyou asks. He hears Tobio snort quietly.
"Shouyou, you're still pretty bad at spiking."
"Hey!" Shouyou elbows him in the gut. "I'm better now. But even back then, when I didn't really know how to hit anything, you always got the ball to me. Every time, a perfect toss." Tobio reddens again at the praise, and Shouyou smiles. "Maybe it's like that? I know everyone at Kitagawa is really good, and stuff, but you're like... really really good. Like really, super, incredibly, totally—"
"Shut up," Tobio says, shoving his shoulder into Shouyou and turning away so Shouyou can't see him doing his wobbly smile.
"—crazy, awesome good," Shouyou finishes. "And so, maybe, you're the one who needs to figure out everybody's perfect toss, you know?"
Next to him, Tobio stiffens. "A perfect toss... for everyone..." he repeats.
"You already know mine," Shouyou says. "Now put that dumb volleyball brain to use and figure out everyone else's."
Tobio is so caught up on his words that he doesn't even react to his brain being insulted, which would usually have resulted in an impromptu wrestling match. He's nodding, slowly, eyes wide as he turns to Shouyou.
"I'm gonna try it," he says, with utter conviction, and Shouyou beams.
He's going to try it, and he's going to succeed, because that's what Tobio does. He is great, and he makes everyone around him greater.
*
Their third year, Shouyou learns what it's like to lose.
The night before they play each other, Tobio calls Shouyou. Shouyou's been expecting it. He picks up from the bathroom.
"Moshimooooooshi!"
"Are you brushing your teeth?" Tobio asks, and Shouyou can hear the grimace in his voice.
"I ‘ad a ‘eeling you'd cawh ‘ee," Shouyou tells him, with a mouth full of toothpaste.
"Gross," Tobio says. "Also, I have no idea what you just said."
Shouyou spits, and laughs when Tobio makes more grossed out noises. "I said, I had a feeling you'd call me."
"Oh, yeah?" Tobio asks, and sighs. That's his settling-into-bed sigh, Shouyou recognizes it. It's probably something he should be doing as well. "Some people would say we shouldn't be talking. I could be giving you insider info."
"Like you'd ever do that," Shouyou scoffs. "Like I'd need you to. We're gonna kick your butts tomorrow!"
He turns off the light in the bathroom and pads his way to his own room, to toss himself down onto his futon with a sigh echoing his friend's.
Tomorrow, his team of six—half of them first years, and Izumi and Kouji, who'd never played a game in their life—will face Tobio and the rest of Kitagawa Daiichi, the favorites for nationals, in Shouyou's first tournament match ever.
He can't wait.
"So what'd you call me to talk about, Kaaage-chan?" Shouyou asks, drawing out his name in a way that was meant to be playful, but just comes out as a yawn. He would have thought he'd be too excited to sleep, but it's like his body is forcing him to a faster tomorrow.
"I just wanted to see how you were feeling," Tobio says.
"I feel great!" Shouyou chirps. "Are you nervous?" Tobio remains quiet. Shouyou rolls over onto his side and whispers into his phone, "Tobio?"
"No matter who wins tomorrow," Tobio says, a bit too loudly. He lowers his voice and tries again. "No matter what happens tomorrow, we're still friends, right?"
"Tobio," Shouyou says, admonishingly. "No matter what. You're my best friend."
He hears Tobio sigh in relief and rolls his eyes fondly. What did that dumb setter think was going to happen?
"Goodnight, Shouyou," Tobio murmurs. "See you tomorrow."
"See you on the court, Kage-chan," Shouyou whispers, as he hangs up.
The next day, Yukigaoka loses in their second set to Kitagawa Daiichi, 13 to 25. This is better than their first set, where they scored a total of six points.
Shouyou does everything he can, including an incredible, accidental cross court quick—but this last only succeeds in giving Kitagawa their winning point when it lands out of bounds. His team is too inexperienced, too small, not strong enough.
In contrast, Kitagawa Daiichi is lead by the strongest—Kageyama Tobio, in his number one captain's jersey, his team at his back, his tosses sharp and precise. Their blocks are like a wall in front of Shouyou.
He knows Tobio would never, ever go easy on him in a game, and this proves it. He's never played against Tobio, before. He thinks, now, maybe he should have. But Tobio always insisted on being on the same team, always followed him to the same side of the court.
When he watches Shouyou on the opposite side, Shouyou sees focus and determination and intensity—but every time his eyes land on Shouyou, there's something else. Not pity; their friendship would have never survived if Tobio pitied him. But perhaps... frustration.
Frustration at what, Shouyou wonders. And he worries. Is it frustration with him? At the fact that Tobio poured three years of his life into this game with Shouyou, and Shouyou can't even take it to a full set?
What has he been doing the last three years?
They line up after the game, and Shouyou manages not to cry, not until they've gathered their things and are walking out of the stadium and he's standing on the steps, and Tobio is waiting for him at the bottom. His very best friend, and his rival, now, in a way. His first game ever and Shouyou had been crushed.
"Shouyou..." Tobio says haltingly, when he sees him, "you played well."
Shouyou bursts into tears. Tobio looks like he is close to doing the same.
"I'm s-sorry," Shouyou sobs. He can't stand the look on Tobio's face.
"For what?" Tobio asks.
"I couldn't give you a—a good game," Shouyou says. He doesn't try to hide his tears. If he's going to cry, then at least he's going to show all of it.
"Haah?" Tobio's mouth drops. "That's what you're apologizing about?"
"It wasn't even close!" Shouyou wails, hiccuping.
Tobio glares at him, before striding up the steps to stand on the one directly below Shouyou. They're almost the same height this way.
"Don't be a dumbass," Tobio says. "Obviously, it wasn't a close game. That doesn't mean it wasn't good."
"But I—"
Tobio puts out a hand, resting it on top of his head. "You ran faster than I've ever seen you go. People were cheering for you, Shou-kun." Shouyou blinks up at him, and Tobio rubs at the back of his neck, and doesn't make eye contact as he mumbles, "And if I could have, I would have, too."
Shouyou feels the pressure that's been in his chest since things started sliding hopelessly downhill in the first game begin to loosen. "You're not... disappointed?"
"In you?" Tobio scoffs. "Yeah, right. I'm prou—I'm—" He flounders. "I told you already, you played well."
One of the Kitagawa Daiichi second years calls out for their captain, and Tobio motions that he's heard. He and Shouyou start to walk back toward them, Izumi and Kouji in tow, chatting behind them more easily now that Shouyou has stopped bawling like a baby. Ugh, now he's embarrassed.
He hovers close to Tobio's side as they walk. He wants to link their arms together, slide his fingers into Tobio's warm palm (his hands are always warm), but he doesn't really want to do it here, in front of everyone.
"You always say that... only the strong remain on the court," Shouyou says softly. He's been dreading bringing this up. But now he's lost, right off the bat, and he needs to know how Tobio feels about it. He needs to know that Tobio doesn't think he's weak.
"Yeah." Tobio nods. "That's why you're gonna come back.” He blinks, like he's just thought of something, then sets his mouth in a line, determined. “And next time, you'll stay there."
Shouyou stares up at him, before his eyes start watering again and he needs to look away. Tobio graciously ignores his second bout of sniffles.
"You're not mad, right?" Tobio asks, his own question equally soft.
Shouyou snaps his head back up to look at him. "Mad?" he repeats. "I'm—of course I'm mad! I'm super mad! Losing sucks!" Tobio cringes as his voice rises and Shouyou snags the sleeve of his blue and white jacket in his fingers. "But I'm not mad at you, stupid." Tobio looks down at him, his eyes wide. "Don't look all surprised. You just did what we always swore we'd do."
Tobio nods, his mouth pressed together in a tight line. "So we're still best friends."
"No," Shouyou says, and then before Tobio can question anything, he clarifies, as a grin finds its way across his face, despite everything. Because: "We're partners."
And Tobio grins right back.
*
Tobio receives an offer from Shiratorizawa. They both knew he would. Shouyou doesn't even make it close.
"I guess we'll be playing each other again, then," Shouyou says, trying to keep the gloom out of his voice. They're in Shouyou's room, and he's at his desk, pouring over Tobio's acceptance letter, which Tobio handed to him without further explanation as soon as he got to Shouyou's house.
"You think so?" Tobio says, lightly. He's lounging on the bed. "It depends where you go."
"You already know I decided on Karasuno," Shouyou reminds him, as if he needed reminding.
"Yeah?" Tobio shrugs. "Well, so have I."
It takes Shouyou a moment to realize what he's said. Once he processes it, he spins around in his chair to stare at Tobio. "Since when?"
Tobio shrugs. "Since... a while." He props himself up on his elbows. "I want to make sure you stay on the court. I want to play on the same team." His blue eyes are fixed on Shouyou, so serious.
"Why?" Shouyou asks, squinting at him. "Is this because I cried?"
"No," Tobio says. "I want to be the strongest. And I think we're strongest together."
Shouyou looks at him for a long while, before suddenly screeching loudly, launching himself straight from the chair onto the bed, which Tobio seems to have been expecting. He catches Shouyou with a winded oof.
After he squeezes Tobio so hard and for so long that the other boy starts complaining about it making him feel like his head is going to pop off, Shouyou says breathlessly, "I jump the highest when you toss to me." It's the only thing he can think of to say to even express how happy he is.
Tobio falls back against the bed, like he's been waiting for this moment. "My favorite kind of toss is the one I know you'll be there to spike."
"I'll always be there," Shouyou vows.
"I know," Tobio says, and when he smiles, it's with his whole face. "That's why my favorite kind of volleyball is the one I play with you."